The Medical Art among the Hebrews

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THE HEBREW STUDENT.

53

. ram nia . mm . wn . »a . ijn . ba . 10 3

n . do. ion . w?)....ci)op
. jnj . ijn . mp"? . est . DDvnn . on . ropj 4

. ♦rixoa . ro-on . •?« . k man . fo . D»orr &

(n>r ijmn- . twn . ty . *wrr . roj . rrn . hon . n 6

TRANSLATION.

1. " Behold the excavation ! Now this is the history

of the tunnel. While the excavators were lift-
ing up

2. " The pick, each toward the other ; and while there

were yet three cubits to be broken through. . . .
the voice of the one called

3. " To his neighbor, for there was an excess in the

rock on the right. They rose up they

struck on the west of the

4. " Excavation, the excavators struck, each to meet

the other, pick to pick. And there flowed

5. " The waters from their outlet to the pool for a dis-

tance of a thousand cubits ; and

6. " Of a cubit was the height of the rock over the

head of the excavation here."
Historically, the inscription gives us no information
beyond the mere record of the cutting of the conduit.
For philology and epigraphy the value of the inscription is
very great. It not only gives us the Phoenician alphabet
in a more archaic form than any previously known, but it
brings before us the Hebrew language as it was actually
spoken in the age of the kings. One of the chief lessons
taught us by the Siloam inscription, is that similar inscrip-
tions still exist in Palestine if they are looked for in the
right place. Not only in Jerusalem, but in the south of
Judah, ancient Jewish monuments still lie buried waiting
for the spade to uncover them. What magnificent discov-
eries may we not expect hereafter when the temple area
can be thoroughly investigated, and the many subterra-
nean watercourses of the capital of the Jewish monarchy
laid open to view.

BEAMS FROM THE TALMUD.

By Kabbi I. Stern of Stuttgart.

TRANSLATED FROM THE GERMAN.

III. YOUTH AND AGE.

Youth is a wreath of roses, age is a crown of thorns.

Children desire to be old, the aged desire to be children.

Woe upon thatwhich we lose and never find again : Youth.

He is old who possesses wisdom.

The old for counsel, the young for war.

The breaking down of the old is building ; the building
of the young is destruction.

Be submissive to the eminent ; be courteous to the
youth.

IV. FORTUNE AND MISFORTUNE, SORROW
AND CARE.

Fortune is a wheel that revolves swiftly.
One misfortune is enough when it is present.
He who weeps by night, weeps with the stars in heaven.
Let not care enter thine heart, for care has already
destroyed many.

Be not over-anxious for the morrow, thou knowest not
now what the day will bring forth.

Three things make life cheerful : a beautiful woman,
a beautiful home and beautiful furniture.

Three faults are in themselves misfortunes : He who
loans money without a bond, he who allows his wife to
rule him, and he who willingly goes into slavery. — What is
meant by the last ? He who transfers all his property to
his children while he lives. B. E.

THE MEDICAL ART AMONG THE HEBREWS.

Jer. viii. 22.

Medical art was, among the Hebrews, practised from
early times by a special profession— the Ropheim— and is
already mentioned in the ancient Book of the Covenant,
which embodies the oldest fundamental laws (Exod. xxi.
19). They may possibly have derived much of their
knowledge from the Egyptians, famous for their discovery
of remedies from remote ages (Horn., Od. iv. 229—232),
and for their medical skill generally (Herod., ii. 84. iii. 1,
etc.); "embalming physicians" are mentioned in Gen. 1.
2 ; and during their sojourn in Egypt they had Hebrew
midwives (Exod. i. 15—20). Their art seems, for the most
part, to have been limited to surgery and the cure of
external injuries (comp. Isa. i. 6 ; Ezek. xli. 21 ; 2 Kings
viii. 29, ix. 15); but the physicians, many of whom belonged
to the prophetic order (2 Kings iv. 33 — 36, v. 10, viii. 7, xx.
7; Isa. xxxviii. 21) enjoyed great respect and confidence,
and were very generally employed, especially after the
time of the exile, when even the smaller towns had their
medical practitioners (Jer. viii. 22 ; Sirach xxxviii. 1 — 15,
a remarkable passage ; Joseph., Vita, 72, etc.), though the
priestly book of Chronicles severely blames king Asa for
"not having consulted God, but the physicians " (2 Chron.
xvi. 12). In later times the priests and Levites, who
officiated barefooted at the temple, had a special physician
(" medicus viscerum ") to cure the colds to which they
were liable ; the Essenes particularly were celebrated for
their knowledge of medicine and the natural sciences
(Joseph., Bell. Jud., 11, viii. 6).

The remedies used by the ancient Hebrews were chiefly
ointments (especially of balsam Jer. viii. 22, xlvi. 11, li.
8), leaves of trees (Ezek. xlvii. 12), cataplasms (especially
of figs, 2 Kings xx. 7), mineral baths (Joseph., Antiq., 17.
vi. 5 : Vita, 16), river baths (2 Kings v. 10) ; oil baths
(Joseph., Bell. Jud. 1, xxxiii. 5), animal warmth for restor-
ing the circulation (1 Kings i. 2 — 4 ; 2 Kings iv. 34, 35).
Music was employed for dispelling melancholy (1 Sam.
xvi. 16) ; fish-gall put on the eye to cure blindness (Tob.
vi. 4). Of inward medicines, honey only is mentioned in
the Old Testament (Prov. xvi. 24) ; several others occur in
the Mishna and Talmud, where also many chirurgical
manipulations are alluded to, even the insertion of artifi-
cial teeth (Mishn., Shabb., vi. 5).

As a kind of sanitary police, the law (i.e., the Levitical
law) appointed the priests, not so much to practise, but to
exercise the inspection and control over the sick and
persons suspected of some endemic malady, especially
leprosy ; and it gives, in this respect, directions which
seem to prove very careful observation (Lev. xii., xiii.,
xv.). The laws of purification had, of course, an important
sanitary influence (Lev. xii. etc.). The dietary laws also
were partially, though by no means exclusively, suggested
by sanitary considerations. — British Medical Journal.